Jason Arday, former Cambridge professor, found dead in London

Jason Arday, 41, has been found dead at his home in Battersea, south London. The British academic resigned from the University of Cambridge at the beginning of August, following allegations of plagiarism and racist conduct.

Arday was appointed professor at Cambridge in 2023 and his story became known well beyond academia. He had described learning to read and write as an adult, after a childhood diagnosis of delayed language development, and going on to build a university career. He was the youngest Black professor in the institution's history.

The allegations concerned parts of his published work and certain claims in his biographies, among them running 600 miles in six days. Sky News devoted a series of reports to the case. The publisher Simon & Schuster and Liverpool John Moores University, where he had previously taught, opened reviews.

The family's account

His relatives dispute the account that emerged in recent weeks. "Jason was the target of a sustained smear campaign for over three years after accepting the chair at the University of Cambridge," they said in a statement. "This disinformation campaign was unbearable for Jason," they added.

The Metropolitan Police Service said officers attended the address. The circumstances of the death are being examined and nothing has been released to suggest third-party involvement.

The case has revived debate in the United Kingdom about how academic institutions handle reports of irregularities in research, and particularly about the time between the start of an inquiry and its conclusion. Research integrity procedures generally provide for a confidential investigative phase, which in practice often runs alongside a public discussion already under way.